Let the Holidays Begin!

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Christmas Eve Already!

Happy Thanksgiving!

11-11-11

November 11
Armistice Day
Remembrance Day
Veterans Day

Image of vintage postcard: Vintage Holiday Crafts.

Happy Holidays!

Like, Merry Christmas, Man!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Happy Halloween!

It's time for trick-or-treating and masquerade parties again. Got any plans? And what are you "going as" this year?

If I were going to be dressing up (and I'm not, darn it!), I think I'd like the costume this lady is wearing. Love the fan and the hat.

But I don't think I'd ever get the hubby in a suit like this. Especially those shoes!

Have a happy, safe Halloween, everyone.

Happy Easter! Happy Springtime!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Easter Parade

Easter Sunday. I have very mixed emotions about Easter Sunday. First of all, there's the fact that my mother died on an Easter Sunday. Also, I'm not terribly religious, and M and I don't generally go to church on Easter anymore. And these days we live far away from all our families, so we no longer get to indulge in the ritual of dressing up for church and then spending the day visiting relatives and stuffing ourselves with Easter goodies.

And even though this year Easter comes right at the beginning of Spring, and all the flowers and trees are blooming again, I'm feeling very nostalgic. So I'm putting up a photo of myself and my cousin on Easter Sunday, circa 1952, I believe. She'll probably murder me for doing this.

But weren't we cute?



I was the oldest (still am!), so that's me on the left, and my cousin MLB on the right. As usual, I had my eyes closed. Notice the white gloves - even on my 2-year-old cuz (although it's hard to see). Well, we were always quite a fashionable pair. I wonder if our mothers ever got the grass stains out of all that organdy.

Happy Easter, everybody. And Happy Spring.

Hi, ya'll!

Happy Texas Independence Day! Are the bluebonnets out yet?

Happy Saint David's Day

DYDD GŴYL DEWI HAPUS!

The View From My Window

Actually, it's the view from our balcony. First of February. Rainy and cold. Bleak, bleak, bleak.

Of course, if the sun were shining, the view would be lovely.

February is my least favorite month of the year. Nothing good ever came of it. OK - my apologies to George and Abe and Thomas Edison. From my personal viewpoint, only two good things have ever happened in February – my grandmother and my cousin MLB were both born in February.

But mostly, the month is just something to be dreaded and gotten through as painlessly as possible. Fortunately, it's short; although this year it's a whole day longer because of leap year.

On the other hand, Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays – it doesn't really fit with the depressing tone of the rest of the month. It's one of my favorites because it doesn't involve my hanging out in the kitchen all day, cooking huge inedible meals. My other favorite holiday is Halloween – for much the same reason. That and the fact that I've always loved dressing up in costumes.

Oh, well, today's a good day for staying indoors and curling up with a good book (or a good blog). And I certainly have a lot of good books stacked up around the place. I guess that's one nice thing about February – the weather usually keeps me from feeling guilty about not being out and about. Maybe we should make February "Stay Indoors and Read" Month. I'd vote for that.

On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas. . .

Poof! It's gone. The holiday season doesn't live at our house anymore. Or I should say, at our condo. Gathered up all the decorations, folded up the tiny tree and stuck it back in the box until next year. Put all the plants and lamps back where they belong.

M. took down the wreaths, and the lights on the balcony, and put the screen back on the sliding doors. I think the lights will be the one thing I'll really miss – when they go every year, it really seems like winter's darkness had descended on the land.

And this year we were a little more melancholy than usual, I think. M. will be retiring after this year. He's already given up his "extra" job on the adjunct faculty at the U of MD, and now he's down to counting the days, hours, and minutes. Soon we'll have to start getting serious about looking for a new home in Texas, and leaving the Washington DC area behind. Mixed emotions, obviously – but I'm trying to look at it as an adventure and not a reason to tear my hair and sob.

So, the holidays are over and the new year is well started. New experiences await, and spring is just around the corner – so they tell me, anyway.

There's just one vestige of Christmas left in the apartment – my big white Kringle Bear, a Christmas gift from M. way back in 1987. Since 2007 was his 20th birthday, I decided to let him hang around a little longer. I think he's happy about it, too. Doesn't that look like a smile on his fuzzy puss?

Christmas Eve 2007